Fighting Comparison as a Small Content Creator
In the last year of running this blog and the Instagram page for this blog, I have learned a lot and gained tons of experience in the area of social media growth and marketing overall. However recently, I have been struggling with what I personally believe is the biggest downfall of a lot of creators (especially smaller ones) and that’s comparison. What is interesting to me about this term, is that it's such an easy thing to fall into. It starts out broad: What are the biggest trends right now? What are new products people are into? But then it starts to get a little more narrowed: What poses are people doing? ____ worked with that brand so I do too- how do I get that brand’s attention? How many followers do I have compared to ____? How did they get a following so fast? Although these thoughts may be unintentional and at times motivational, to me that’s just a disguise to the anguish they really cause.
Comparison then turns into over analyzation which can then lead to anxiety over what is supposed to be done for fun. We all (at least I hope) joined Social Media because of the idea that it’s fun and I can show my life the way I want it to look. We’ve all heard the term that social media is the “highlight reel” of our lives yet why don’t we continue to believe that when we find ourselves in these fits of horrible comparison? Now other people may have a different opinion on this, but as a small creator, I have realized recently that whether or not I post all the time really doesn’t change my engagement all that much. Now, some could say I just haven’t learned the system yet. And you could be right. But, why spend so much time putting out a perceived version of your life when there’s not going to be a difference in how you grow anyways? OR why put so much effort into sharing the “perfect” life if it's causing you to struggle and not bringing joy anymore. I don’t know about you, but when I get into these fits of comparison I find myself feeling more and more unmotivated and stressed about what I am putting out there.
Over the past few weeks, I have realized that it’s okay to not be sharing every possible second of my day or worrying about capturing as much of the day as possible so I can make sure I do a recap later. And that it’s also okay to not post every single day. Yes, some followers may disappear but it’s important to be motivated by your passion for why you have this platform. If caring about the engagement and numbers is what you want (for example for selling a particular product like small businesses do), that’s fine- it's good to set goals and want to do more for your personal brand. Just don’t let those numbers define you and affect the way you look at your own brand because that’s when it can become joyless and stressful when it's supposed to be an escape.
I am currently trying to let myself show my creativity when I’m actually motivated and feeling creative instead of just forcing creative ideas upon myself when I have no real motivation. I’ve found that, while yes it may be more inconsistent, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter to me because I am actually still feeling joy out of what I am creating and sharing. Ultimately, I feel that the following I do have can feel that when they see my blog posts or Instagram posts. I know that I do when I see that a creator is truly being themselves and doing it because they love what they do and aren’t just constantly thinking about what they SHOULD do compared to everyone else.
*Edited by Carly Herbert
